973.7163 
GRf67a 


Ranki  n,    Henry   B. 

The  Abraham   Lincoln  Uni 

versi  ty 


LINCOLN  ROOM 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


MEMORIAL 

the  Class  of  1901 

founded  by 

HARLAN  HOYT  HORNER 

and 

HENRIETTA  CALHOUN  HORNER 


The 
Abraham  Lincoln  University 


Address  by 

HENRY  B.  RANKIN 


AT  LINCOLN'S  TOMB 


Opening  the  Campaign 
To  Raise  a  Million  Dollars 


May  15,  1924 


LINCOLN  ROOM 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


MEMORIAL 

the  Class  of  1901 

founded  by 

HARLAN  HOYT  HORNER 

and 

HENRIETTA  CALHOUN  HORNER 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign 


http://archive.org/details/addressbyhenrybrOOrank 


Address  by 
HENRY  B.  RANKIN 


Opening  the  Camprn&n 
To  Raise  a  Million  Dollars 


To  Establish 

cUhe 
Abraham  Lincoln  University 

Springfield,  Illinois 


"Wise  councils   may  accelerate,   or 
mistakes  delay,  but  sooner  or  later,  the 
victory  is  sure  to  come." 
Lincoln,  1856.     Lincoln  University,  1924. 


May  15,  1924 


Printed  for 

BARKER'S  ART   STORE 

Springfield,  Illinois 

By 

THE  EDW.  F.  HARTMANN  CO. 

Springfield,  Illinois 


Limited  to  200  copies,  of  which  this  is  No. 


Zo 


This  address  was  prepared 
at  the  request  of  the  Trustees 
of  The  Abraham  Lincoln 
University,  by  Henry  B. 
Rankin.  It  was  delivered 
at  Lincoln's  Tomb  on  the 
occasion  of  placing  a  wreath 
on  the  sarcophagus,  May 
fifteenth,  nineteen  hundred 
twenty-four. 


No  occasion,  event,  or  op- 
portunity in  Springfield 
since  the  Nation  brought 
Abraham  Lincoln  to  his 
home  in  this  City,  that  his 
body  should  be  with  us  for- 
ever, equals  in  importance 
the  purpose  that  brings  us 
to  this  tomb  on  the  anniver- 
sary of  his  last  home-  coming. 

We  are  here  today  to  place 
a  wreath  on  Lincoln's  tomb 
as  a  pledge  at  this  place,  as 
in  his  presence,  and  from 


this  hour,  "that  we  here 
highly  resolve"  and  bear 
away  with  us  from  this  sa- 
cred occasion,  an  inspiration 
that  there  shall  arise  in  this 
City  Lincoln  loved  so  sin- 
cerely, a  monument  more 
enduring  than  the  granite 
shaft  at  which  we  now  rev- 
erently stand.  "It  is  alto- 
gether fitting  and  proper 
that  we  should  do  this." 

Beside  this  tomb  and  with 
us  are  the  First  Trustees 
whose  delightful  work  be- 
fore them  and  their  succes- 
sors, is  to  organize,  erect  and 


endow  as  monumental  to  his 
life  and  services,  The  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  University  in 
this  Capital  City  of  Illinois 
as  a  Memorial  to  perpetuate 
here  in  our  City,  by  and  in 
human  hearts  and  minds,  the 
warm  pulsations  of  patriot- 
ism of  which  Abraham  Lin- 
coln was  so  inspiring  an 
example. 

Oh,  Lincoln!  We  are  here 
to  meet  you  again.  More 
than  sixty-three  years  ago 
the  Nation  took  you  from  us 
for  its  President,  as  an  un- 
tried man.     You  took   the 


reins  as  Chief  Executive  of 
the  Nation  in  perilous  times 
from  the  trembling  hands  of 
a  retiring  President.  You 
measured  up  to  the  task. 
Though  you  had  a  Quaker's 
hatred  of  war,  you  said  to 
those  who  would  rend  the 
Union  asunder:  "We  will 
not  go  out,  and  you  shall 
not." 

Through  four  long  years, 
your  endurance,  your  fertil- 
ity of  resources,  your  mag- 
nanimity, your  patience, 
were  sorely  tried,  but  never 
found  wanting.    Never  rash, 


never  vindictive,  keeping  a 
kind  heart,  but  a  firm  hand 
toward  friend  and  foe  alike, 
you  became  more  and  more 
firm  under  each  successive 
disaster,  whether  by  political 
foes  in  legislative  halls,  or 
military  campaigns  amid  fire 
and  blood  and  tears. 

Oh,  Lincoln!  Fifty-nine 
years  ago  the  Nation  brought 
back  home  to  us  your  lifeless 
form  to  rest  forever  here 
among  your  neighbors  and 
friends.  You  were  returned 
not  as  ours  any  more,  but 
the  Nation's;  nay,  not  this 


Nation's  only,  but  the 
World's.  We  raised  this 
shaft  of  granite  above  you 
amid  the  anguish  of  sad 
thoughts  and  bitter,  but 
proud  tears.  We  hold  sacred 
to  preserve  as  you  left  it,  the 
humble  home  you  had  among 
us.  We  have  inscribed  bronze 
tablets  at  all  places  in  our 
City  made  sacred  by  events 
in  your  life  while  living  here. 
The  State  of  Illinois  on  its 
Capital  Grounds  has  builded 
you  its  Centennial  Memo- 
rial. Last,  but  greatest  of 
all,  a  grateful  Nation  at  its 


Capital  presented  to  the 
World  one  of  the  most 
magnificent  memorials  ever 
erected  to  man. 

But  we  cannot  rest  satis- 
fied by  these  expressions  of 
our  devotion  and  our  appre- 
ciation of  your  character  and 
services.  They  all  are  only 
reminders  of  you.  Oh,  Lin- 
coln! You  were  too  warm  of 
heart  and  vital  through  your 
life  to  be  measured  in  death 
by  granite  and  bronze.  They, 
each  one,  are  as  voiceless  as 
your  silent  lips  are  now  be- 
neath this  shaft  of  granite. 

[The  wreath  is  placed  on  the  sarcophagus] 


By  this  wreath  we  place 
on  Lincoln's  tomb  today,  we 
wish  to  symbolize  The  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  University. 
This  wreath  has  no  end  in  its 
intertwining  circle.  Xo  part 
in  it  is  so  large  as  claiming 
to  be  all;  nor  leaf,  nor  twig, 
so  small  as  not  to  be  an  es- 
sential part.  So  may  and 
will  be  built,  this  Abraham 
Lincoln  University  for  the 
Ages,  with  no  contributors 
so  large  as  to  think  they  are 
all  of  it,  nor  none  so  small 
but  what  thev  are  forever  to 
be  a  part  of  it. 


Lincoln,  oh,  Lincoln!  We 
are  here  today  to  place  this 
wreath  above  you,  to  witness 
and  consecrate  our  resolve 
by  its  endless  circle  that  we 
shall  in  this  City  build  an 
University  home  for  the  in- 
dwelling of  the  Abraham 
Lincoln  spirit,  and  whose  sa- 
cred halls,  rooms  and  spa- 
cious grounds  shall  be  filled 
with  the  young  men  and 
women  who  will  come  after 
us.  Here  is  to  be  an  Univer- 
sity "of  the  people,"  erected 
"by  the  people,"  for  the  com- 
mon  people   of  whom   you 


said,  "God  must  love  because 
He  made  so  manv  of  them." 

m 

It  shall  be  built  and  from  its 
classic  halls  in  vour  home 
city,  there  will  go  forth  a 
current  of  never  ending  in- 
telligence to  valiantly  broad- 
cast the  Lincoln  message 
that  this  Nation  shall  have 
at  every  call,  for  all  times, 
"new  births  of  freedom," 
and  "shall  not  perish  from 
the  earth." 

Standing  at  Lincoln's  tomb 
today  and  pledging  the  build- 
ing of  an  University  bearing 
his  name  and  inspired  by  his 


spirit  and  devotion,  we  are 
admonished  by  his  life  to 
overcome  all  difficulties  and 
discouragements  in  the  spirit 
with  which  he  met  those  be- 
fore him.  Let  us  recall  Lin- 
coln's words  uttered  in  the 
dark  days  of  his  strife  in 
1856  when  he  faced  at  his 
old  home  near  New  Salem 
an  audience  of  his  turbu- 
lent neighbors  and  former 
friends,  who  were  then  no 
longer  such.  To  them  he  said, 
with  calm  assurance,  what 
can  be,  what  must  be,  our 
watchword  in  this  endeavor: 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


"Wise  councils  may  ac- 
celerate, or  mistakes 
delay,  but  sooner  or  lat- 
er the  victory  is  sure  to 


come." 


With  this  inspiring  slogan 
we  pledge  at  this  tomb  today 
our  devotion  to  the  founding 
of  an  University  in  memory 
of  our  most  illustrious  citi- 
zen and  the  Nation's  First 
American.  "It  is  for  us  to 
be  here  dedicated  to  the 
great  task  before  us  " 

Looking  back  across  a  cen- 
tury of  American  history,  no 
other  personality  towers  so 


high  in  the  admiration  of 
mankind,  or  casts  so  benign 
a  light  upon  the  character 
and  destiny  of  our  Republic, 
as  that  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 
He  stands  today,  more  than 
a  century  after  his  birth,  the 
most  unique  and  unforget- 
able  figure  in  our  history  and 
one  of  the  mighty  spirits  of 
the  race.  He  rendered  not 
only  unto  Caesar  the  things 
that  were  Caesar's,  to  the 
States  the  things  that  were 
the  States';  but  he  stood 
above  those  of  his  time  in 
waiting  patiently,  serenely, 


inflexibly,  to  lead  his  coun- 
trymen to  render  to  God  the 
things  His  justice  required 
in  national  life. 

Such  a  man  the  time  and 
the  task  demanded,  and  God 
in  His  providence  gave  to 
his  country  and  his  race, 
Abraham  Lincoln.  He  was 
equal  to  every  opportunity, 
he  accomplished  his  mission, 
and  of  his  influence,  on  and 
through  this  University, 
there  will  be  no  end. 


Bs, 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 

973.7L63GR167A  C001 

ADDRESS  BY  HENRY  B.  RANKIN,  OPENING  THE 


3  0112  031822023 


